Sun Oven Time Management

Over the weekend I baked biscotti in my Sun Oven for the first time, actually it was the first time I’ve baked biscotti period; Sun Oven or no Sun Oven. It was a bit of a project and, as with most first time projects, there are a few things I’d do differently next time. Most of the changes I’d make are a matter of logistics. Biscotti are baked twice; first, the dough is shaped into two logs which are baked, cooled, and then sliced before baking the cookies a second time.

As with most cookie recipes the main issue was fitting them into the cooking chamber. I did manage to find two baking pans that would accommodate both logs and be cross-stacked to fit in the cooking chamber, however, next time I’d bake them in two separate batches. Here’s why; in my baking experience I’ve found that in the Sun Oven, the bottom pan always takes longer to bake, the total baking time was just over an hour.

Both logs need to cool at least 25 minutes before slicing, and there’s no way to fit all the sliced biscotti in the cooking chamber in one go. It would be better to bake one log at a time. They would bake faster and the first one would be cooling while the second one bakes. Then, the first batch of sliced biscotti would bake while the second log cools. By doing the first round of baking in two batches the overall cooking time should be considerably less, I’d say by at least an hour. The recipe itself needed no modification, apart from the cooking times; click here if you’d like to see it.

On a final note, if you make these biscotti, get the anise seed in the hispanic spice section of your supermarket where it cost only 99¢, the other stuff was over $7.00 a jar!